Cheltenham HS

Origin of Life Essay 9/28/97
 
 
 I think that life is a chance to discover who you 
 are and what you are supposed to be doing. You can 
 be alive in a physical sense without ever knowing or 
 caring about your purpose in life, but you can never 
 spiritually be a living being. You are put here with 
 a set of instructions that give you a shape and a 
 starting point, and it is up to you to decide where 
 you go with them and what you do with yourself. Life 
 can be forgiving, it can let you get away with things 
 you arguably shouldn't be able to do. It can also be 
 cruel, unfair, and relentless, giving you things to 
 deal with that you can't or shouldn't have to handle. 
 The way I see it, life isn't what you are given, set 
 with, stuck with. It is not any ability you are given 
 from birth, it is not your ability to breath, walk, 
 taste, or love. It is your ability to change yourself 
 and change the world around you, for better or for 
 worse. In a more scientific sense, life comes from 
 the physical make up and chemical wonders that allow 
 you to react with the world and spread your message.
 
 So let's see. How did it begin? I like the theory 
 of chemical evolution. I can see that happening. 
 If Stanley Miller could get it to work, why not the 
 early universe? I also like to think that chemical 
 evolution and creationism are not mutually exclusive. 
 I don't think of myself as highly religious, but it is 
 nice to think that there is something out there. Oparin 
 said the materials for life were in the atmosphere and 
 the energy was present to bring the elements together. 
 Well, where did those elements come from? And where 
 did the volcanoes and the sun that provided the energy 
 come from? And who's to say that the seven days of 
 creation were measured in the hours we know now? This 
 theory seems very rational to me. I can picture in my 
 head the ancient world, and I can see the different 
 parts coming together to become a living thing. It 
 brings to mind the opening scenes of Look Who's Talking, 
 only with much simpler elements. It would have been an 
 extremely slow process, particularly from the early 
 stages of amino acids to the first organisms to what 
 we are today, but the best things take time.